By Griff Roberts
“When the Eternals brazenly target the mutant nation of Krakoa, the Avengers try desperately to de-escalate a potentially apocalyptic war. But this is no simple conflict. The Eternals’ purpose cannot be denied and mutant kind’s future will not be threatened. And after the opening battles, new players and revelations for both sides will emerge as the inhabitants of the Marvel Universe are JUDGED by the greatest power they’ve ever come into contact with.”
This event will be special. This event will showcase Avenger Vs Mutant Vs Eternal. It will be the first substantial encounter the X-Men will have with any non-mutant, since they branched into a pocket of their own in Dawn Of X. The Eternals have very recently been re-mythologised by Kieron Gillen and his team, who’ll also be picking up the reigns – along with artist Valerio Schiti – on the 2022 event, Judgment Day.
Avengers
The current Avengers run, scribed by the legend Jason Aaron and drawn masterfully by Javier Garron, will be threaded into storylines concerning the Eternals and Mutants. The run, which begun in 2019, has surpassed 50 issues, tallying a total of 750 legacy issues. That’s approximately 1000 pages of awesomeness, in just two years! Regarding story elements, the Avengers have never been able to properly see eye-to-eye with Eternals, and how could they– Eternals are gods. So, it’ll be intriguing, to put it mildly, seeing Cap diffusing an argument with the likes of Magneto and Makkari.
The Winter Guard became a notifiable asset in this series... maybe the Avengers will have to count on the Russian co-operatives this
summer for a helping hand?
X-MEN
Now, the X-Men. They’re a complicated lot, to say the least. It can be said though, the revolutionary Jonathon Hickman has re-written the literature-based code for Mutants.
Hickman relaunched the X-Men in Dawn Of X (2019) and, in a nutshell, revitalised the X-Men franchise. Every few decades something similar happens, whether it be Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye, or Frank Miller’s Born Again omnibus. Something always hit the mark. Always. This was the late-early twentieth century sensation that sent readers back to their local comic store, to empty their wallets and purses.
You get the idea - he knows what he’s doing. So, when Jason Aaron, Jonathon Hickman and Kieron Gillen team-up for the event of a year, you know its quintessential in every possible manner.
ETERNALS
Kieron Gillen restored the humanity in Jack Kirby's Eternals. Earth's guardian angels have been around for centuries, with the prospect that death was only a passive process – except that it never was. Gillen expands on this dilemma:
“They’re characters who are afraid to die because they are heroes. They don’t want that to be on their conscience. In the case of Ikaris, now he knows because Toby died, how many other humans have died for him? Now they have the proper Marvel Universe guilt, shame, and regret. That’s what I wanted to give them and that’s where we are. Ikaris has a line where he’s like, “How can I fight like I don’t care if I live or die?” He hasn’t cared about being punched in the face for hundreds of years.”
Essentially, they have an Uncle Ben paradox; they’re now not only fumbling powerhouses being pushed around the Marvel sandbox, but cautious fumbling powerhouses. Well, for some of them at least. It divided the Eternals. There’s 100 of them, most serve their purpose and live to protect, the others have less of a regard for human life and will readily die for reincarnation, guilt-free.
JUDGEMENT DAY
Our first in-Marvel Universe glimpse towards the Marvel's summer event of the year appeared on the cover to April’s #11 Eternals, pitching Kingo wielding two swords at the Sentinel of Liberty, Captain America. The phrase ‘Judgement Day Is Coming’ headlined. The story will commence on free comic book day, May 7th, in Avengers/X-Men – it will act as the prelude to the main show. Writer Kieron Gillen is about to launch the new Immortal X-Men series as a part of the Destiny Of X relaunch.
“I want the scale. I want the heartbreak . I want a book that wears its heart on its sleeve even as it puts a fist in your face. I want something Wagnerian in its volume as emotional as God Only Knows.”
Masterpiece incoming.
We’re only a few months away from this absolute craze fest of heroes and heroines, so why not pick up a comic (the first is FREE) and show these creators some passionate fanaticism?
The good kind.
Comments